HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, 1910 
A house now square and uninteresting, but with possibilities of de¬ 
velopment, as suggested on the page opposite 
One of the solutions of a common problem. In old houses the second-story windows are near the floor, 
under the cornice, and must be enlarged to make the bedrooms livable 
On an eastern hillside overlooking the valley and stream. Below a 
garden and lawn might be developed as shown opposite 
opening on new imaginary gardens; a wider entrance gateway; 
hedges, shrubs and straight flower beds; a terrace at the floor 
level along the front, with formal bay-trees or Catalpa Bungci to 
break the even white. One is curious to see what the future 
owners will do with it, for the place happens to be for sale, with 
its forty acres in one of the better sections of Greenwich over¬ 
looking a broad stretch of country. 
Just what an old place of this sort would need in repairs is 
difficult to say; sometimes an old house is habitable just as one 
finds it; generally there is no plumbing and one or more bath¬ 
rooms must be arranged, and if the city supply is not near, a ram 
or windmill provided to pump water to a storage tank from one 
of the old wells. This means a range with a water-back and 
boiler for hot water, at a cost of perhaps three hundred dollars 
for each bathroom and somewhat more than that for the water 
supply. 
A heating system will probably be necessary—if it is a small 
house and ducts can be ar¬ 
ranged, probably hot air; if 
larger, hot water, at somewhere 
near an average cost of sev¬ 
enty-five dollars a room. It is 
not always necessary promi¬ 
nently to expose the vertical 
pipes called the “risers” and 
"returns;” they can be ar¬ 
ranged in closets, or in corners 
behind a projecting angle where 
they are seldom seen. In an 
old house they cannot be placed 
in partitions, for the old sys¬ 
tem of house framing placed a 
solid beam in each of the floor 
levels, and pipes cannot pass. 
Electric wiring would cost 
seventy-five dollars or more, 
depending on the number of 
outlets and whether a “knob 
and tube” or a hollow pipe or 
“conduit” system is desired — 
the former the usual type, but 
the latter far better and safer. 
As to general repairs, no aver¬ 
age can be made, for various 
houses cover all ranges of good 
or bad condition. New leaders 
and gutters they generally 
need; flooring sometimes laid 
over the old floors. Chimneys 
must be carefully inspected, for mortar is apt to have fallen out 
in places. The chimney used for the heater flue must be re-lined 
for at least half the height, past the second-floor beams. If a new 
wing were added, the heater chimney could be placed in it; in 
general it is more economical to place the bathroom, pantry and 
any rooms that require especial fitting there. 
The other altered photograph — the lower one on page 13 — 
presents a typical local farmhouse in one of the excellent sites 
they seem invariably to have chosen; this one on an eastern hill¬ 
side at a turn in the road. A west wing might be added; the 
old terraced farmyard converted into a formal garden, with 
pergola or arbor at the edge overlooking the valley and stream 
below. One is eager to attack the briar patch along the road and 
rebuild the ragged stone wall or plant a hedge in place of it. 
Pruning here and there, sawing off dead limbs, clearing weed- 
patches and a fresh coat of paint on the house — these count out 
of all proportion to their cost. 
